


Roped Into This Mess

by Merecchi



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, WARNING OF BLOOD AND GORE, crime investigator, crime investigator chiaki, crime investigator eichi, crime investigator sena, dubious bar owner rei, i just want to write crime setting for them, it's yours truly hibiki wataru, just a little bit at the later half of the story, koga adonis aoi twins works under rei, marine biologist kanata, marine biologist kaoru, no real plot, phantom thieve 'Magician', slight hint of eichi/kaoru, which is already half canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29127393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merecchi/pseuds/Merecchi
Summary: Hakaze Kaoru was not a crime investigator.He never was.And never will.
Relationships: Hakaze Kaoru/Sakuma Rei
Kudos: 17





	Roped Into This Mess

**Author's Note:**

> > One day I dreamt of walking on red carpet in a dimmed corridor, of billowing smokes, of people in black tux discussing murder, of being a failure of an Investigator that the villain hooked up on...  
> > There's more scary part and that dream was literal nightmare  
> > I recreate them to be sexy in here:D

Hakaze Kaoru was not a crime investigator at first.

He had got in the bureau via recommendation. Not because he has a high sense of justice like Moricchi or how Senacchi has given a second chance out the rehab center to use his assassin-like agility in a better way. Kaoru has a clean record, not the type of desperately fake _-clean_ demeanor; but he would never get into fights, drive drunk, nor got any ticket. He has no trophies to be proud of tho, no forensic experience or data mining skill either. He majors in marine bio with no criminology nor psychology minors. He simply has _nothing_ to attract The Boss of Investigation Bureau.

But he does anyway, and it was stupidly cliché.

He was on his way in campus, his lab jacket on, hands full carrying sample he needed to transfer from the field to the lab, got unexpectedly clumsy to bump someone. Aka the head chief of the bureau. The man helped him, a kindred heart really, and suddenly he was offered–more like personally hand-picked–to join the bureau because he “caught his eyes”.

That day, Kaoru unexpectedly roped in to apply to the bureau’s intern program. Somehow, a program that doesn’t need any permission of any parents, or school, or even any authority, exists. Kaoru did think he was scammed at first, think this is somewhat a new _MO_ to human trafficking and whatnot. He was easily read on as his scouter’s fished out his badge, showing a legit japan investigation bureau emblem, and chuckled,

_“You’re not going to be harmed in any way.”_

Kaoru successfully made a fool out of himself.

His dearest friend Shinkai Kanata, one who stays during high school even after he developed a tendency to fool around in the sight of any potential date partner, said after he told him what happened, “I think… the reason mister ‘bossman’ insist on hiring Kaoru… is because a ‘Crush’ he had on you….”

Kaoru choked on his lunch. _Does he missed any sign of telling the others both of them are_ males!?

But Kaoru’s not the type to blame other people easily like that. So, he listens when the blue haired friend claimed that he was there; as Kaoru fumbles around with his dropped specimen, planning to assist him back together to the lab, the other man dropped to his knees on his clad-fit black suit just to help him. And even if Kaoru wanted to deny That story so much, he could feel his stomach churn for the possibility of the truth.

He did think it’s odd to not feeling safe from the intense gaze of the cold blue eyes of his benefactor.

* * *

Hakaze Kaoru, _he didn’t want to admit out loud_ , never wanted to be a crime investigator.

Bossman (something Kaoru had fixed on calling, thanks Kanata) had said, _“You have a great skill of observation and analysis. You can adapt well, make the mood better. It’s just rare to found that with the good-head type like you. What else to lose?”_

_Well, to be fair_ (!!), Kaoru looked at his getup with a frown. He didn’t want to wear a suit that Compliment His Eye (or hair). He didn’t want to purposely perm his hair to appeal others. He didn’t really like how high his lapel is on his throat and how Senacchi ended up ransacked his shared apartment (with his tall femme-spoken-man lover) only to find his nicest cuff links to lent. He didn’t want to bother the model-looking couple putting on his make-up; he didnt like how his skin caked up in cosmetic or smelling like powder. He didn’t like feeling _artificial_.

He only wanted to learn the fishes, the turtles, the porifers, the cnidarians, the sea-evolving-predators, the mysterious life living in the depth of the blue sea. Is it too hard to be like that? To be alone in his thoughts? To be caught up a little bit more and wrap him up with the things his late mother loves?

Kaoru’s heart throbbed a bit. _Not now_. He needs to focus back on his mission.

Shepard One lit a cig. It was unusual.

The gentle nicotine smoke he exhaled draws a choppy line in the air. His Boss, he’s asthmatic. But apparently, he’d do anything for his job.

There’s a ding on the elevator. Kaoru holds the door, Shepard One stepped out from the little whirring machine first. There’s a small smirk tugged on his face and anyone would say he’s in a good mood. But after working to him these past months, Kaoru knew better it’s just his working masks.

Following him through the corridor, Kaoru set the mission briefing in mind. _Focus_.

This is a stealth mission; not assassination-type, but something like putting-a-bait-to-fish type. Two investigators will get into a meeting appointment, extracting materials from the broker while someone in HQ could cyber-track the transaction, wrapping things up, trying not to be caught on CCTV, get out. It was easy to remember. But of course…

(“Am I a decoy?”

“No, you’re not.” Bossman had answered instantly. His eyes pierce straight to the pilings report papers still. _Suspicious,_ “You’re going to be my chaperone, my mood maker.”

Well, that’s _not_ reassuring either, “I have no use in a stealth mission tho? Boss, you do know I’m not even enrolled in The academy, right???”

“Aaah, so noisy~!” Kaoru’s silver haired deskmate, the actual master-of-stealth mission, Izumi Sena, groaned, “It was just get-in-get-out mission! You have Bossman there to do the job anyway! Just _go_ and be pretty or something!”

“Well, easy for you to say!” Kaoru whipped his head, Sena’s focus was on his case papers but Kaoru won’t get away from this as his first designed case if the debates not settled, “Senacchi sure has the _looks_! I don’t even own any suits!”

“You have the looks too, for God’s sake, don’t you own a mirror!? And in which universe a man _doesn’t_ have suits?” Sena snapped out loud and Kaoru didn’t reply as fast as before.

The conversation that hung up in the air is out of character silent. Another second tick by when finally, Sena’s face contorted in horrified and disbelief.

“………….You really _don’t_ have suits.”

“Shut up.” Kaoru sulked on his seat.

He couldn’t yet tell anyone yet that he sold all of his nicest clothes for a living. He had scrapped every nice thing to bail out his father's house, works hard in the lab to fulfill his college necessity, that living in the college dorm with Kanata is probably the best choice he ever made in his life, even though he regrets leaving his older siblings behind.

But Sena had searched Hakaze Kaoru’s profile firsthand and it makes the guilt on Sena’s shoulder doubles by a square root.

“Well, there’s no need to be sorry!” A wild Inspector Morisawa Chiaki had appeared. With a bagel in hand, he slaps both of his colleague’s backs anyway. It hurts a bit, but Chiaki had been the super energetic all-day type, Kaoru’s thankful for that now. “Since it turns out like this, how about lending some suits to Hakaze, Boss?”

“He _won’t_ —” “I would?”

Kaoru looked back to Boss’ direction in disbelief. The overlapping statements took him back for a second. There’s even a genuine surprise on the Boss’ face.

He _will_?

“Eh, you wouldn’t?” Now, Chiaki is just playing dumb.

“No-Aah, um,” A cough, “I do think… I would… At some point. It’s part of my responsibility after all…”

There’s a dumbfounded expression when the Boss slips focus. He’s distracted enough to frown on his own thought. Kaoru really wouldn’t mind to Not having this conversation _at all_. But he could saw decisions were being made when The Boss sighed. He shoved his paper works to an arm bag, grabbed his coat, and straightened up from his seat,

“Hakaze. Come with me.”

“Eh,” Kaoru instinctively grabbing his stuff too as he stands up from his seat, “Like, now _now_?”

The heel of the Boss’ dress shoes thunked daringly as he crosses the precinct to the exit elevator, “In case there are no suits that fit, we will have time to run to my usual tailor to make one.”)

Kaoru can’t help to feel a secondhand embarrassment for his Boss. What an outrageous person.

“ _Hound_ ,”

Kaoru snaps back to reality. That’s his codename.

“Yes?”

The light-blond superior looked like he had seen irritating bugs on his face, “What’re you spacing out for…”

Guilty.

“Ahh… Sorry. I just…” Excuse, Kaoru fidgeted with his hands a bit, “Not used to all of this.”

Scoffs, “The corridor? Or the suits?”

Kaoru’s face scrunched in an awkward smile; he knew he looked embarrassing. “Mmh~~~ both?”

Now Shepard One just exaggerate a very long exasperated sigh.

“Come closer.”

Kaoru hesitated, but the other decided it was enough waiting by the fifth seconds and grabbed Kaoru by his arm—

Only to be brought to the other side by the hips.

“Um,” conscious at the weight of the other hands on him, “Boss?”

Shepard One didn’t reply. He dragged another breath from his barely-consumed-cig as he drops his head on the other’s shoulder. Kaoru freezes. But Shepard One didn’t even bother to cover his gaze. Devouring the blond from the mirror reflection, installed as far as the corridor exists.

They both have had the same height, more or less. Kaoru’s almost-auburn waistcoat, peeking out from a darker grey suit, is a contrast to the other’s almost-black and cobalt colored one. Aside from that, all Kaoru sees for the rest of his vision are the dark velvet red carpet in dim lighting, cig’s smokes that hung low around the two of them, and their own reflection.

( _Realizing how the suit contrast both of their hair perfectly._ )

A choked-like chuckle across a pair of tight pale lips, “You look stunning.”

Mumbling, “Thanks,” to the man who smiles at him through the mirror.

A glint of sky blue irises over Kaoru’s grey.

“Don’t mess up, _Hound_.”

Kaoru stilled his head front, a strained smile on his face. He didn’t want to see the other’s face no more, other than from what’s on the mirror. Waiting until the weight of a head on his shoulder walks away, Kaoru tries his best to ignore the heat stamp on his skin, waiting for the whiff of cologne receded.

“I won’t.” his reply hung in the air.

His heart didn’t skip a beat.

* * *

Hakaze Kaoru must _act_ like he had work years as a crime investigator.

The worker who greets them at the front door is an inch taller with a broader built shoulder than him. With sharp golden eyes and no smile, he has a significant presence just as he stands still. Purplish hair slicked back on one side of his head, a black sleeveless leather uniform hug his defined muscles, his white gloves concealed nothing of the bouncer’s (Kaoru assumed) natural tan skin. _Foreigner_. Kaoru could run now and still got pounced by him in five; The Bouncer looked like he owns at least one gold in olympics and Kaoru still treasures his life.

“Invitation?”

Shepard One cocked his head to Kaoru, that’s his cue. Stepping in, Kaoru reached for an envelope in his suit’s pocket, “Private room with The Count?”

The Bouncer stepped out further, showering his figure to the corridor’s source of dim lighting. Bass vibration leaked from the door ajar, enough to prick below Kaoru’s skin and made him itch. The room Shepard One and Kaoru yet to enter flashes erratic neon lights, splashing the dim corridor with some of their sharp colors. But Kaoru’s got distracted more by how the bouncer bend to his eye level, something he does to examine the invitation letter closer.

(Written in dark _dark_ blood-like red ink, the invitation letter contains beautiful cursives adorned with a blooming rose in golden-red colored wax stamp for its seal; Kaoru had checked the authenticity earlier. He still can’t imagine how “The Count”, the one who opened this kind of “party”, will look like. But he did wonder how expensive exactly this meeting place was supposed to be.)

“Shepard and Hound?” The bouncer finally piped back in.

A smile, ( _don’t be so stiff,_ a voice echo inside Kaoru’s head) “That us.”

With a step to the side, the bouncer smiles at them. Politely. It didn’t match how intimidating he looked just seconds ago, “With all respect, Sirs, private room is this way.”

Then, they are in.

* * *

Kaoru should’ve known better; this was never an easy mission.

“And here my old man soul thought you won’t be coming ever again, _Shepado_ ~”

The voice was sing songed as both investigators went through the furthest, most secluded private room door. No owner of such husk-velvety voice to be seen. Its dim, like everywhere else here. Kaoru can’t see any window behind all the dark-colored (ah, another gradient of red color) cloths on the wall, draping every inch of it as the owner’s preferred decoration. He sees one sofa and one armchair, a low see-through glass table inbetween before he sees a figure.

Far far in the back of the room, a shadow with a cloak, behind the curtain–

“ _Za~n~nen_ ~”

Kaoru whips his head right.

(A suggestive smirk on a sheet of pale skin—)

“ _Koko da yo,_ ”

(Jet black hair and red _red_ irises—)

“ _Shepaado_.”

(—pointy canines—)

A soft breath of wind to his ear left Kaoru scrambling backward before dropping to the ground in shock.

(—just who the _fu—_!?)

“What’s this now.”

Smirking face drops to nothing. The ghost _(ghost?)_ bends over to meet Kaoru’s baffled face. His red irises transitioned to something more serious, merciless—

“You’re not Shepard.”

 _Murderous_.

(Kaoru wished he shrink to dust right there.)

A voice from somewhere behind them interrupted, “Count, that’s my chaperone for today.”

Red irises lingered a second from skinning Kaoru’s alive. A fake excitement ( _fake_?) shows on the man’s face as his eyes locked back to his supposed-to-be ‘target’. Swiftly jumping over Kaoru’s shoulder to the owner of the voice, he ( _he?_ ) staged such saccharine sweet welcomes like its not dripping with venom at all.

“Shepard~! Didn’t see you slip past my very capable eyes to sit so mighty on my chair like that!”

Kaoru stretched his head over, checking that yeah, his Boss’ already walked past him to sit on the armchair he had locked on earlier. One foot propped up on the other, acting cocky for a prey in the lion’s den. He even has a smirk on, what a dick.

Kaoru would like to ask his Boss about this, _this_ old-spoken _man_ with an unbearable physical gait when a shadow—multiple _shadows_ —hovers on Kaoru’s face.

With more people ( _three_ , he quickly counts) standing in the doorway, Kaoru recognized another man in black leather clothes.

Silverish hair and honey colored eyes sticking out from the others like a sore thumb. This one didn’t care to masks his displeasure. There are piercings on both of his ears, the _manly_ ones. But his uniform reveals most of his arm—a very short sleeves—and even if he wears normal black slacks, the tightness of the materials sends every curve of his thigh and calves right into _sexy-looking_. And, surely _surely_ enough to make a hot pool of mess inside Kaoru’s; to know exactly how _vulgar_ this type of uniform makes them look, it’s explicitly shown how they’d wag their ass on their owner’s laps—is what Kaoru think.

The silver boy(?) clicked his tongue and carry on his duties with a tray of liquor bottles on hand, setting them up on the only table in the room.

Two ginger heads poke out from the silver’s back after. Twins with mischievous slanted eyes. Green irises filled in interest as Kaoru—slowly but surely—collect himself from the floor, patting invisible dust from his pants.

“Children,” a call that broke their calculating eyes from eating Kaoru out right away, the count piped from across the room. “will you put our dear guest in his seat?”

As the twins rushed to grab him, Kaoru could see how revealing their _uniform_ is. Diamond-shaped chest window with short crop that shows tummy. The way they turn from shy to energetic in second from the _orders_ ; didn’t help Kaoru ease up at all. The twins might’ve just two-three years younger than him.

Quick chirps of “ _Oniisan, you hurt?_ ” “ _Oniisan’s new?_ ” And " _Let’s play!_ "s drown with how suddenly tunneled-vision Kaoru as he saw his Boss and the count.

How the raven haired had sit on another single sofa, that came out from somewhere, elegantly, swift at pouring liquor to their wine glasses. How Shepard One didn’t bother to touch the offered glass in front of him. How the raven’s silver bouncer ( _workers?_ ) glare at Shepard’s head indignantly. How the count wave a dismissal hand to him and crossed his legs in lax position.

Kaoru’s observation cut as soon as he’s butt-flat on his seat. Trapped between the twins in a 3-seated sofa, each of them had circled their hands on his arms. Innocent smiles blind his eyes from the rest of the room.

The Count flashed a sharp smirk at his direction, and Kaoru might’ve gotten sudden chills in a fricking _summer_.

“Shall we start the negotiation then?”

* * *

Kaoru right from the start; this _isn’t_ an easy mission.

There is a suffocating amount of hushed argument between The Count and Shepard One. There’s no merchandise displayed, no jewelries are present, no stack of moneys, no communication devices, no cams, no _paper works_. All Kaoru caught was the talk’s about ‘Magician’, the man that rob aristocrats in a masquerade mask last week.

Rumors from the precinct floats in Kaoru’s head; that the Magician was once Bossman’s childhood friend. Kaoru fidgeted on the sofa. Nothing in here make him calm down at all.

(—there are hands on Kaoru chest and the twins’ weight on both of his arms. Breaths are tickling his ears, making it harder to hear the other important member’s hushed voice. The way the silver puppy drilled his honey eyed irises onto him—or his pants, like expecting _something_ —is unsettling—)

Kaoru tried to focus on the ‘negotiation’ more closely. After all, how are these relaxed chats in enemies’ den are an ‘untraced communication’. He was so lost in thought and zoned out as he jolt in his seat when The Count voice reached him.

“What’s your name?”

Kaoru blinked once. Twice.

 _Keep calm_ , his head piqued. “Pardon me?”

“Your. Name.” A bemused smile stretched on one corner of his lip. “Or _codename_. Whichever’s fine.”

Glancing at the face of undisturbed of Shepard One, Kaoru spoke in uneasiness, “Hound.”

“Hound.” Perfect pronunciation slipped from glossed lips, then a chuckle. The raven stands from his seat in a breath, striding to the other’s sofa, and— “ _Haundo_. Desu ne?”

 _Broken again,_ “Yes, but if I may know—”

“Now look here, _Haundo_. Look.”

There’s a phone device shoved into his field of view. One of the twins has dispersed himself, leaving a spot open for the owner of the place. The count fit himself in a very quiet squish to Kaoru’s shoulder, making him backed away a bit, adjusting himself from the shoulder touch and to look at what’s shown to him.

Behind the amateur-feel first-person view cam, Kaoru saw a person. A pair of feet. Then his head registered the red blotch of fresh, pooling bloods on it. Some dot connects from the soft scuffle that comes after, a struggle. Kaoru felt the dread as his brain caught up with the other man’s _job_. The filming of an execution. This is one of his victims. Drenched in blood, battered down, broken. A rattle from the place beyond the screen, a sudden loud whizz of s machine, a muffled desperate scream, an unbearable tension as the machine loom in to obliterates their feet. As the machine’s propeller connects, pained shrill echoes in the dim room.

Kaoru tried to look away. He tried. But he also felt one of the twins pinned him on the arm, felt the sadistic amusement of the count on the other side. Then he realized he’s frozen in place. Of fair, of pain, of something he hadn’t known before and that’s when nausea hit him. The dread felt heavier. Like he’s the one plunged to the blade of whirring machines. And he sweats like he hadn’t ever before.

When everything’s back to silent then, Kaoru could feel his limbs numb from the sheer secondhand panic and anxiety.

“Please,” past the feeling of wanting to vomit, Kaoru gulps his saliva down on his dry throat. He tilts his head slightly and croaks. “at least don’t show that in front of the kids…”

The Count’s chuckle rings louder than Kaoru’s tunneled vision.

“Aah~ Not good with blood, huh?”

Slipping his phone back to the inner pocket of his suit, this supposed to be _informant_ continue to have casual conversation with both agents instead, “Where the heck did you find him in the first place, Shepard?”

Kaoru glanced at Shepard One for a second, just for measurement of how bad his act actually is. But the other looked like he’s not even bothered with disgust or any emotion.

“Stray.”

A laugh, before a whole arm casually drapped over Kaoru’s shoulder. He could feel the other’s body heat and perfume, and _intimidation_ — “A stray huh? How about you work here at my place then, _Haundo_?”

“Huh _?_ ”

Oh, Kaoru accidentally let that one out loud.

“I’m curious about you,” A lazy smile stretched to a smirk, incisors looked sharp even in the dim lighting. “And I think your chief over there purposedly made you wear something that piqued up my favor~”

(An alarm sets on Kaoru’s head at the mention of ‘ _chief’_ ).

Kaoru’s legs jump on reflex. He had wanted to get up, to start running, but he can’t.

A palm lays flat on Kaoru’s abdomen. Slips just under his suit to the maroon waistcoat. The count’s. An unbearable strength from the weak looking raven head, a pressure that holds Kaoru in place, unmoving.

“Relax~ I’m not stupid to kill policemen in my establishment like this~”

Kaoru might’ve caught up to a job he’d never sign up to.

“See, there’s a contract on hand with your chief over there. An _offering_ as payment and that I could do anything I want with them~ At least if you work here, I can guarantee you to have better pay than _that side_ ~”

Gently wringing himself out from the other’s arm, Kaoru answered in a serious tone. “I have no plan to move to anywhere soon.”

Tilting his head in innocence, “Not even for a trial?”

Alarm. ( _Red_ like the other’s _eyes—_ )

(("— _purposely made you wear something that piqued up my favor_ —"))

Kaoru let panic takes a hold of him, “Shepard—”

“Don’t move.”

Cold ice voice pierced through Kaoru’s hot face, hot head, hot eyes. The other’s blue irises screw him in place. On his throat was a silverware, a knife; might’ve been just a butter knife. But the silver pup— _wolf—_ held it menacingly. Hand steady as the knife lays sharp on the other’s carotid for all Kaoru education told him.

(Kaoru can’t forgive the boss for setting him up like a cheap _exchange chip_.)

One wrong move is fatal.

(But he wouldn’t forgive himself either if the boss returns as a corpse bag.)

“Now would you listen to my part of a bargain?”

Kaoru sweats.

He needs to have a calm and clear head out for this man. He holds two lives on him.

(—And maybe the whole precinct dignity back in the HQ.)

Kaoru gulps.

* * *

_Hakaze Kaoru was not a crime investigator._

* * *

“If that bargain guarantees our safety to get out from here, _alive_ that is.”

Cold fingertips on a superhuman power. Porcelain like skin. Soft curl of black hair. Glossy lips.

* * *

_He never was._

* * *

“Of course~ I’ll bet on my life for your safety.”

(But Kaoru still eyed him suspiciously and it triggered a laugh from him.)

"No need to be so tight! I'm a person of my words, mind you."

* * *

_And he never will._

* * *

Red _eyes_. 

* * *

(— _Kaoru would never know why did he look so_ lonely.)

* * *

"Now, what'll you choose, dear Hound?"

**Author's Note:**

> > I hope no one mind the psycho-pass reference  
> > forgive me and my 2AM writing capability  
> > Rei's broken pronunciation for the codename is him mocking the two agents: "I knew you both police but I'll play along" hence why I wrote it inconsistently  
> > pardon my english (not my languange)
> 
> I play the game since the first installment but this is my first time in ao3. Please be kind...  
> I draw @merecchi (IG/twitter)


End file.
